Erin Pettersen's penchant for swimming her best times at night worked against her one final time Saturday as the Whitman senior just missed advancing from the morning preliminaries to the evening finals of the 200-yard butterfly at the women's NCAA Division III National Swimming Championships at the Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Pettersen was clocked in 2:09.90 in the morning preliminaries, which left her in 18th place -- two spots and less than four-tenths of a second from advancing to the evening finals.
Pettersen's morning time was 1.1 seconds faster than she swam in the morning preliminaries at last month's Northwest Conference Championships. She then returned in the evening finals to obliterate her school record time by more than three seconds, finishing in 2:07.71.
"Erin always swims faster in the evening and I have no doubt she would have swam a career-best time tonight had she advanced to the finals," Whitman assistant coach Jaime Kennedy said. "Nonetheless, I am extremely pleased with Erin's perfomance today and for the whole meet. I am proud of her and of all of her accomplishments this season, and for the class with which she has represented Whitman at the national championships."
The times posted throughout the women's championships were nothing short of amazing, Kennedy added. A total of 10 meet records were broken over the first two days.
"I've had a really awesome experience (at nationals)," Pettersen said. "I'm very proud of how I swam even though I didn't swim any best times. I feel honored to have been able to represent Whitman at the national level."
Saturday's racing capped a stellar career for Pettersen, who this week became the first Whitman swimmer to qualify for the national championships since Whitman moved from the NAIA to the NCAA in 1995. She holds both school records in the butterfly events and ranks second all-time at Whitman in the 50-yard freestyle. She also shares school records in three relay events.
Whitman's Erin Pettersen missed All-America honors in the 100-yard butterfly by about 1.2 seconds Friday as the women's NCAA Division III National Swimming Championships continued at the Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Pettersen, a senior, posted a time of 59.31 in the morning preliminaries to finish 24th overall. Swimmers with the top 16 times in the preliminaries advanced to the evening finals and earned All America honors (First Team or Honorable Mention).
Ava Kiss, a senior at the College of New Jersey, won the evening finals in 55.08, a new meet record that was more than six-tenths of a second in front of the runner-up, Middlebury senior Marika Ross.
Pettersen competes in her strongest event, the 200-yard butterfly, on Saturday. She shattered her Whitman school record in that event at last month's Northwest Conference championships, placing second in 2:07.71. That times makes her the 10th seed in Saturday's event.
Erin Pettersen, the first-ever Whitman swimmer to compete at the NCAA Division III National Championships, got her feet wet Thursday but fell short of making the evening finals in the 50-yard freestyle, the weakest of her three events.
Pettersen, a senior, was clocked in 25.36 in the morning preliminaries of the 50-yard freestyle. She swam a 24.95 at last month's Northwest Conference Championships, but even that time would have left her short of making Monday's top 16 at nationals. Emory University's Ruth Westby took the top prize in the evening finals in 23.40, nipping Elizabeth Carlton of Kenyon College by three one-hundredths of a second.
Pettersen's next two events are the 100-yard butterfly (Friday) and 200-yard butterfly (Saturday). She lowered her school record in both events at last month's conference championships. Her 200-yard butterfly time is 2:07.71, which makes her the 10th seed at that distance. Her 100-yard time is 58.16, which makes her the 17th seed.
The women's swimming championships, hosted by the College of Wooster, are taking place at the Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Nancy Alexander and Erin Pettersen, pillars of the Whitman women's swim team the past four years, were simply superlative Sunday night in powering the Missionaries to a third-place finish in the Northwest Conference Swimming Championships at the King Co. Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.
Alexander won the 200-yard backstroke title for a third straight year, and Pettersen finished second in the 200-yard butterfly, smashing one of her school records for the second time in two days. As she did in Saturday's 100-yard buttefly, Pettersen also posted a strong provisional qualifying time for the NCAA national championships.
Meanwhile, with sophomore Eric Molnar placing third in one event and the Nusse brothers, Ysbrand and Jamie, finishing fourth in two others, the resurgent Whitman men's squad placed a strong fourth, finishing just 45.5 points behind third-place Linfield. The Missionary men lost 30 points to a disqualification in the final relay event, or the battle for third would have been closer yet.
In that final relay race, senior Clint Collier, sophomore David Lee and the Nusses had their sights set on placing first, knowing in advance that a relay victory would vault Whitman into third place in the men's final team scoring. While they didn't finish first, the Missionary foursome placed a strong fourth in 3:12.18 -- just two seconds behind the winning team. Whitman's time, had it not been negated by the disqualification, would have lowered the school record by two seconds.
In the combined men's and women's team scoring, Whitman took third place by a decisive margin, amassing a total of 854.5 points. Whitworth, which won both the men's and women's team titles, racked up 1,496.5 total points, finishing well ahead of Puget Sound's 1,293 points. Linfield was fourth in the eight-school field with 738 points.
In fourth place in the women's team scoring after the meet's first two days, Whitman rallied past Lewis & Clark on Sunday to place third for a second straight year, and for the third time in the past four seasons. The Missionary women finished with 411 points while Lewis & Clark had 392. Whitworth and Puget Sound were first and second with 793 and 692 points. With 443.5 points, the Whitman men placed fourth in their final standings for a second consecutive hear. The Missionary men were fifth two years ago and sixth in each of the three previous years.
"This was an incredible meet for Whitman," assistant coach Katharine Curles said. "It was awesome to see all of our swimmers step up and have amazing races. Everyone had great swims all weekend."
As she did a year ago, when she had the fifth-best time in the morning preliminaries, Alexander saved her competitive best for last in defending her NWC title in the 200-yard backstroke. After posting Sunday morning's third-best time in the preliminaries, Alexander took the lead about 120 yards into the championship race and then held off Whitworth's Marjorie Turner by four one-hundredths of a second. Her winning time was 2:09.99, about 1.4 seconds off the school record she set in 2006.
In her first trip to the NWC championships in 2005, Alexander finished second in the 200-yard backstroke to Whitworth's Katelyn Erickson. Alexander edged Erickson for the 2006 and 2007 titles before making it three straight on Sunday.
Pettersen, who placed third in the 200-yard butterfly in her first three trips to the NWC championships, was the runner-up on Sunday in 2:07.71, which obliterated her school record by more than three seconds. Her time undercut the provisional qualifying time for the NCAA Div. III national championships by more than two seconds and missed the automatic qualifying standard by about 1.3 seconds.
Pettersen also posted a strong provisional qualifying time on Saturday in placing second and lowering her school record in the 100-yard butterfly. Both of her weekend times would have earned her a ticket to last year's national championships. "Erin is so pumped and excited," Curles said. "The chances are fairly high that she will get to swim in the national championships in early March."
Molnar, who won the men's 400-yard individual medley on Saturday, placed third in Sunday's 200-yard butterfly in 1:58.59. He also took third in the event a year ago as a freshman. Molnar's latest times in both the 400 IM and 200 butterfly move him in second place all-time at Whitman for those events.
Ysbrand Nusse, a junior who placed second to Molnar in Saturday's 400 IM, was fourth in Sunday's 200-yard backstroke in 2:00.86 (2:00.35 in the morning preliminaries). Nusse was fourth in the event last year and third as a freshman.
Jamie Nusse, a freshman, was fourth in Sunday's 100-yard freestyle in 47.81, a time that moves him into the third place all-time at Whitman. He also placed fourth earlier in the meet in the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle events, setting a new school record at the longer distance.
In the women's meet, senior Elizabeth Roberson wrapped up a strong senior season by placing third in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 18:38.00, which knocked more than five seconds off her career-best time. She ranks seventh all-time at Whitman in that event.
Claire Noone, a first-year swimmer, placed fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:36.26, which missed her season-best time by three one-hundredths of a second. Lauren Flynn, also a first-year swimmer, was seventh in the 100-yard freestyle in 56.49, a season-best time that moves her to sixth on Whitman's all-time list for that event.
Other Whitman men placing in championship heats were Lee, who was sixth in the 100-yard freestyle in 49.13 (48.69 preliminaries), and freshman Nick Wood and Collier, who were seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 200-yard breaststroke with times of 2:17.98 and 2:19.93. Wood's time in the preliminaries (2:17.74) moves him into fourth place all-time at Whitman, one spot in front of Collier. In his three previous championship meets, Collier had placed eighth twice and ninth in the breaststroke event.
Several Missionaries advanced to Sunday's consolation finals for places nine through 16. While Wood and Collier were finishing seventh and eighth in the 200-yard breaststroke, three teammates were piling up more team points in that event's consolation finals. Freshman Chad Trexler was 10th overall in 2:20.12, sophomore Nick Hurlburt was 13th in 2:24.83, and freshman Brian Wakefield was 14th in 2:25.85. Trexler's time in the preliminaries (2:19.21) moves him into sixth place all-time at Whitman for that event.
Freshman Nate Wells placed 10th with season-best times in two events. He was clocked at 18:24.48 in the 1,650-yard freestyle, finishing two spots in front of freshman Eliot Stone (18:47.38), and at 2:11.90 in the 200-yard butterfly. Max Hennings, a junior, was 15th in the 200-yard butterfly (2:22.86) and 18th in the 1,650-yard freestyle (19:57.42).
Sophomore George Stanton, bouncing back from injury, was 12th in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:09.38.
In the women's consolation finals, sophomores Kendi Thomas in the 200-yard backstroke and Chelsea Klinger in the 1,650-yard freestyle placed 10th overall. Swimming a 2:14.96, Thomas lowered her career-best time by more than five seconds and now ranks third all-time at Whitman in the backstroke event. Klinger's time in the 1,650-yard freestyle was a career-best 19:14.53
Seniors Ellen McCleery and Rhea Edelman placed 14th and 15th, respectively, in the 200-yard breaststroke with times of 2:42.25 and 2:44.49. McCleery, who returned to swimming this season after a year off, had placed as high as seventh in the event earlier in her career. Edelman, who swam a career-best 2:42.84 in the preliminaries, placed in the consolation finals for the third time in her four seasons.
Edelman also clocked a career-best 20:26.08 in placing 16th in the 1,650-yard freestyle for the second time in three years. Elli Matkin, a first-year swimmer, finished 19th in the mile freestle in a season-best 21:04.90.
Courtney Fitzpatrick, a junior who missed the fall semester swim season while studying abroad, placed 12th in the 200-yard butterfly in a season-best 2:23.65.
Sophomore Eric Molnar gave the Whitman men's swim team its first individual title in seven years as the Northwest Conference Swimming Championships continued Saturday night at the King Co. Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.
Molnar led junior teammate Ysbrand Nusse to a one-two finish in the 400-yard individual medley. Molnar, who finished second to Nusse in the morning preliminaries, won the championship final in 4:13.95, missing the Whitman school record by about one second. Nusse's runner-up time in the finals was 4:15.39.
For Nusse, it was his third consecutive runner-up finish in the 400 IM. Molnar was third in the event last year.
The Whitman men dominated the 400 IM finals, putting four swimmers in the final eight. While Molnar and Nusse were finishing one-two, Missionary freshmen Nick Wood and Chad Trexler placed seventh and eighth.
"It was great to see Whitman fill half the spots in that championship final," Whitman assistant coach Katharine Curles said. "Eric and Ysbrand really pushed one another hard at the front, and Nick and Chad worked well together as well."
Tucker Jackson was the last member of the Whitman's swim team to claim a conference crown. Jackson won both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events at the 2001 championships.
In the team scoring, both Whitman teams remained in fourth place among eight schools after Saturday's events.
Whitworth was first in the women's scoring with 520 points, followed by Puget Sound 472, Lewis & Clark 281, and Whitman 274. Whitworth and Puget Sound were also one-two in the men's scoring with 477.5 and 395 points, respectively, with Linfield in third with 329 points and Whitman in fourth with 321.5.
Senior Erin Pettersen nearly picked off a second conference title in the women's 100-yard butterfly, finishing second in 58.16. That trimmed nearly two seconds of her existing school record and met the provisional qualifying standard for the NCAA national championships.
"We won't know for a few weeks if Erin will get a berth at the national championships," Curles said. "They start with the swimmers who make the automatic qualifying time and then fill in with the swimmers who have provisional times. But Erin's time is promising. She has a fairly legitimate shot at getting to nationals."
After breaking four school records in Friday's competition, Whitman swimmers set three new school marks on Saturday, counting Pettersen's lowered time. Senior Clint Collier, who placed sixth in the finals of 100-yard breaststroke in 1:00.65, broke the 13-year-old Missionary record in the morning preliminaries with a time of 1:00.47.
Collier, Nusse, Molnar and sophomore David Lee opened the Saturday night session by placing third in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:37.37 -- shattering the school record by nearly three seconds. Whitman also set new school marks in Friday's two relay events.
After posting a new school record in the 500-yard freestyle on Friday, sophomore Jamie Nusse nearly did it again in Saturday's 200-yard freestyle. He placed fourth in 1:43.54, missing the Whitman record by a scant five one-hundredths of a second.
Senior Nancy Alexander, who set Whitman's record in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:00.05 in 2006, just missed that mark Saturday, placing third in that event in 1:00.59.
Sophomores Kendi Thomas and Chelsea Klinger gave Whitman a strong showing in the women's 400-yard indvidual medley, placing fourth and fifth, respectively, with times of 4:51.29 and 4:54.20. Thomas moved into sixth place all-time at Whitman for that event, while Klinger now sits in the sixth spot.
Lee added a fifth-place finish in the men's 100-yard butterfly. His time, 53.09, moves him into fourth place all-time at Whitman.
Senior Elizabeth Roberson in the 200-yard freestyle (2:04.82) and first-year swimmer Claire Noone in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.91) placed eighth for Whitman. Noone swam a slightly faster time (1:12.89) in the morning preliminaries, moving into fifth place all-time on Whitman's best-times list.
Several Missionaries made Saturday night's consolation finals (places nine through 16). In addition to his seventh-place finish in the 400 IM, Nick Wood placed 10th in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:02.06, which vaults him into third place all-time at Whitman. Sophomore Nick Hurlburt was 11th in the consolation final in 1:03.70, which moves him into the eighth spot on the Whitman best-times list.
Ellen McCleery, a senior, finished ninth in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:04.93, cutting more than two seconds off her time in the morning preliminaries. McCleery just missed the consolation finals of 100-yard breaststroke, placing 17th in the preliminaries.
Sophomore George Stanton, injured for much of the season, placed 12th in the 100-yard backstroke in 58.16 (57.88 in the morning preliminaries). Junior Courtney Fitzpatrick and first-year swimmer Lauren Flynn placed 14th and 16th, respectively, in the 100-yard butterfly with times of 1:04.38 and 1:05.26. Nate Wells, a freshman, was 14th in the 100-yard butterfly in 58.25, and freshman Brian Wakefield was 16th in the 400 IM in 4:50.97.
Kate Pringle, a first-year swimmer, missed the consolation finals of the 100-yard backstroke by six one-hundredths of a second. Her 17th-place time was a season-best 1:08.68.
In the women's 200-yard medley relay, Whitman placed third in 1:54.27. Pettersen, Alexander, Noone and Flynn teamed up to miss the Missionary school record by less than one second.
In the men's 800-yard freestyle relay, the Nusse brothers teamed with Molnar and freshman Eliot Stone to take third in 7:15.15. Roberson, McCleery, Klinger and Thomas placed fifth in the women's 800-yard freestyle in 8:20.28.
The swim championships conclude with a final day of swimming on Sunday.
Freshman Jamie Nusse in particular and the Whitman swim teams in general had quite the opening night as the Northwest Conference Swimming Championships kicked off a three-day run Friday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.
Nusse led charge for Whitman, setting a new school record while placing fourth in the 500-yard freestyle. He also was part of two relay teams that set new Whitman marks.
Sophomore David Lee, who joined Nusse on both record-setting relay squads, nearly broke another school record while finishing fourth in the 50-yard freestyle.
Not to be outdone, seniors Erin Pettersen and Courtney Fitzpatrick teamed with first-year swimmers Kate Pringle and Lauren Flynn to set a new Whitman standard in the women's 200-yard freestyle relay. And Pettersen came within three-tenths of a second of breaking the school record in the 50-yard freestyle.
"All in all, it was a great night for Whitman," assistant swim coach Katharine Curles said. "In past championship meets, Friday wasn't the best of days for our teams, but that wasn't the case today. We're excited about the next two days and what we can do."
In the team scoring, both Whitman squads finished the day in fourth place, just two points out of third in each case.
In the women's standings, Whitworth and Puget Sound are first and second, respectively, with 226 and 208 points. Lewis & Clark is in third with 119 points, just two points in front of Whitman. Other team scores are Linfield 88, Willamette 77, Pacific 46, and Pacific Lutheran 34.
On the men's side, Whitworth is on top with 206 points. Puget Sound is second with 183 points, followed by Linfield with 132 and Whitman with 130. Next in line are Pacific Lutheran 113, Lewis & Clark 69, Willamette 57, and Pacific 47.
In the men's 500-yard freestyle, Nusse claimed his school record by swimming 4:47.30 in the evening finals, slicing more than eight seconds off his time in the morning preliminaries. The previous Whitman record, set in 1999 by Garrett Hageman, was 4:49.06.
In the evening's first relay event, the 200-yard freestyle, Nusse and Lee teamed with senior Clint Collier and junior Ysbrand Nusse (Jamie's older brother) to place fourth in 1:26.48. That time trimmed 1.5 seconds off the previous Whitman record, set in 1996 by Hageman and three others.
The evening session ended with the sophomore Eric Molnar joining Jamie Nusse, Lee and Collier to place fourth in the 400-yard medley relay in 3:35.27. That time shaved more than 1.6 seconds off the school record set in 1992.
With Pettersen swimming the opening leg, the Whitman women placed third in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:42.75. That erased the previous school record, 1:43.47, which Pettersen and Fitzpatrick helped set in 2006.
Pettersen, who holds school records in both butterfly events, came close to a third record while placing fourth in the 50-yard freestyle in 25:04. Michelle Zinanti has set the Whitman standard at 24.75 since 1991.
Pettersen's Friday night finish in the 50-yard freestyle was her best in that event in four years at the championship meet. She placed 15th in her first year, ninth as a sophomore and seventh a year ago as a junior.
Lee, who was eighth in the 50-yard freestyle at last year's championship meet, was clocked in 21.84 in posting his fourth-place finish in the Friday finals. His time in the morning preliminaries was slightly faster, 21.80, and leaves him second all-time at Whitman. Tucker Jackson set the school record in 1999 at 21.40.
Senior Nancy Alexander and first-year teammate Claire Noone, along with Pettersen and Flynn, just missed a school record in placing third in the 400-yard medley relay. Their time was 4:06.94, almost one second off the mark set in 2006 and tied in 2007. Alexander and Pettersen were contributors to both of the earlier times.
Other Friday night highlights for Whitman included the men's 200-yard individual medley, where Molnar and Collier placed seventh and eighth, respectively, with times of 2:00.12 and 2:02.08. Molnar's time moves him into third place all-time at Whitman. Collier's time in the morning preliminaries was 2:00.59, which puts him into the fourth spot.
Other Whitman swimmers making Friday's championship finals were Ysbrand Nusse, who placed eighth in the men's 500-yard freestyle in 5:02.13 (4:56.35 in the morning preliminaries), and Flynn, who was eighth in the women's 50-yard freestyle in 25.97. Flynn's 25.72 time in the preliminaries moves her into sixth place all-time at Whitman for that event.
Several Missionary swimmers scored team points by advancing from the morning preliminaries into the evening's consolation finals (places nine through 16). Sophomore Kendi Thomas and Chelsea Klinger had career-best times in placing ninth and 10th in 200-yard individual medley. With a time of 2:18.31, Thomas moved into sixth place all-time at Whitman for that event. Klinger's 2:19.35 was good enough for the ninth spot on Whitman's all-time list.
In the women's 500-yard freestyle, senior Elizabeth Roberson battled the flu bug and placed 12th in 5:27.87. In the women's 50-yard freestyle, Pringle was 13th in 26.38 while Fitzpatrick was 15th in 26.50. In all three cases, the times were season-best efforts.
In the men's 50-yard freestyle, sophomore Nick Hurlburt was 12th in 23.07 and freshman Matt Bangcaya was 16th in 23.39, his best time of the season. Hurlburt posted his season-best, a 23.02, in the morning preliminaries
Two Missionaries just missed the consolation finals in their events. Freshman Eliot Stone was 17th in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:16.31, his season-best time by about 16 seconds. Alexander just missed her season-best time in the women's 500-yard freestyle, where she was 18th in the preliminaries in 5:38.62.
Puget Sound won both ends of Northwest Conference dual meet Friday evening at the Paul Harvey Pool, but no one swam any better that Whitman freshman Jamie Nusse, who won all three of his individual events.
Despite Nusse's trifecta, the Puget Sound subdued Whitman 128-77 in the men's dual meet. The Loggers were 143-62 winners in the women's dual.
Nusse led one-two Whitman finishes in winning the 200-yard freestyle (1:48.13) and 100-yard freestyle (50.62). His older brother Ysbrand Nusse, a junior, was second in the 200 free (1:51.20) while sophomore David Lee was the runner-up in the 100 free (50.91). His winning time in the 200 moves him from 10th to ninth all-time in the Whitman record books.
The younger Nusse notched his third triumph in the 500-yard freestyle. His time, 5:05.00, was more than five seconds clear of his nearest challenger. "Jamie really rocked all three of his races," Whitman assistant swim coach Katharine Curles said.
Sophomore Eric Molnar was the only other individual event winner for the Whitman men. His finished in 2:06.01, nearly nine seconds in front of the runner-up. Molnar led off the 400-yard medley with a 56.54 split in the 100-yard backstroke. That time moves him into eighth place all-time at Whitman.
Individual event winners for the Puget Sound men were Erik Doran (1,000 freestyle), Bret Schluederberg (50-yard freestyle), Jake Rifkin (200-yard individual medley), Jackson Kowalski (200-yard backstroke) and Paul Hughes (200-yard breaststroke). The Logger men also won both relay events.
With the flu having an effect on its ranks, the Whitman women's squad picked up just one individual event victory. That came courtesy of senior Erin Pettersen in the 200-yard butterfly. She finished in 2:13.79, winning by nearly four seconds.
The Whitman women also posted a decisive win in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Pettersen teamed with senior Elizabeth Robertson, sophomore Chelsea Klinger and first-year swimmer Lauren Flynn won by nearly 11 seconds, finishing in 3:52.14. Roberson also placed third in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 11:23.31, which moves her into 10th place all-time at Whitman.
Sophomore Kendi Thomas placed second in the 200-yard backstroke in a career-best 2:21.28. She remains in 10th place all-time at Whitman for that event.
Winning two events each for the Logger women were Sarah Mirick (500-yard, 1,000-yard freestyles) and Leesa Cotton (100-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley). Other Puget Sound winners were Amy Polansky (200-yard breaststroke), Evan Connolly (200-yard backstroke), Johanna Root (50-yard freestyle) and Mac MacAfee (200-yard freestyle). Cotton, Polansky, MacAfee teamed with Jessie Kuwada to win the 400-yard medley relay.
"Despite missing some of our swimmers because of illness, we had had some good races, and a good last meet of the regular season," Curles said.
Rhea Edelman, one of six Whitman seniors honored prior to the meet, swam a 2:45.78 -- her career-best time by five seconds -- in placing fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke. "Rhea has put a tremendous amount of work into her swimming, and it was great to see her have such a strong race in her last dual meet," Curles said.
Curles also commended freshman Eliot Stone, who clocked a career-best 5:32.11 in placing fourth in the men's 500-yard freestyle.
Other Whitman seniors swimming their final home meet, in addition to Edelman, Pettersen and Roberson, were Clint Collier, Nancy Alexander and Ellen McCleery.
The NWC Championships are set for Feb. 8-10 in Federal Way, Wash.
With Elizabeth Roberson, Eric Molnar and Jamie Nusse winning two events each, the Whitman swim teams rolled to a pair of decisive non-conference dual meet victories over the College of Idaho Saturday afternoon in the Paul Harvey Pool. The Missionary men won 128-61, raising their dual meet record to 4-3, while the Whitman women improved to 5-2 with a 125-67 margin of victory.
Roberson, a senior, led the way as Whitman swept the top two spots in the women's 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle events. Sophomore teammate Kendi Thomas was second in the 200 while senior Nancy Alexander was the runner-up at the longer distance. Thomas notched a victory of her own later in the meet, placing first in the 100-yard backstroke.
Molnar, a sophomore, won the men's 200-yard individual medley by a decisive margin and beat freshman teammate Nate Wells by two seconds in the 100-yard butterfly. Nusse, a freshman, captured both the men's 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle events. In the longer race, juniors Ysbrand Nusse and Colin Gibson finished second and third, respectively.
Other individual event winners for the Whitman women were senior Erin Pettersen in the 100-yard and first-year swimmer Claire Noone in the 200-yard individual medley. Sophomore Chelsea Klinger and Lauren Flynn, another first-year competitor, finished second and third, respectively, in the butterfly.
Eliot Stone and Nick Wood, two more Missionary freshmen, also won events. Stone was first in the 1,000-yard freestyle while Wood was a winner in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The Whitman women got the meet off to a rousing start by sweeping the top two spots in the 200-yard medley relay. Alexander, Pettersen, Flynn and senior Ellen McCleery took first, and Klinger teamed with senior Rhea Edelman, sophomore Jessie Neill and first-year swimmer Kate Pringle were the runner-ups, edging College of Idaho's lone relay squad by three-tenths of a second.
With College of Idaho unable to field a men's relay team, Whitman also took the top two spots in the men's 200-yard medley relay. Junior Max Hennings and freshman Matt Bangcaya teamed with Wood and Wells for the winning time. Gibson teamed with freshmen Brian Wakefield, Chad Trexler and Jeff Sterritt for second place.
Whitman also won the concluding 200-yard freestyle relays. For the women, it was Pettersen, Thomas, Flynn and junior Courtney Fitzpatrick. In the men's race, the Nusse brothers teamed with Collier and sophomore David Lee to edge their opponents by four-tenths of a second.
Whitman wraps up its dual meet season when it hosts Puget Sound at 7 p.m. next Friday. The NWC Championships are set for Feb. 8-10 in Federal Way, Wash.
The Whitworth swim teams ran their Northwest Conference dual meet records to 5-0 with victories over their Whitman counterparts Friday night at the Paul Harvey Pool. Whitworth was a 110-90 winner on the men's side and a 141-64 victor in the women's meet.
The Whitman men's squad, now 3-3 in NWC dual meets, stayed close by winning both relay events but picked off just one victory in the nine individual events. The lone Missionary winner was senior captain Clint Collier, who swam the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:02.03.
The Whitman women, falling to 4-2 in the dual meet standings, notched wins in two individual events. Seniors Nancy Alexander and Elizabeth Roberson won the 100-yard backstroke and 500-yard freestyle events, respectively, with times of 1:02.59 and 5:29.86.
"That was a great swim for Nancy in the backstroke, and Elizabeth had awesome races in both the 500-yard and 1,650-yard freestyles," assistant Whitman coach Katharine Curles said.
Earlier in the meet, Roberson placed a strong third in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 18:43.09, which moves her from ninth to seventh on Whitman's all-time top 10 list for that event.
Sophomore Kendi Thomas cracked the Missionary top 10 in the 400-yard individual medley, placing third in 4:58.57. That moves her into 10th place all-time at Whitman.
On the men's side, sophomore David Lee jumped onto Whitman's top 10 list in the 100-yard butterfly. He placed third in 55.12, which slides him into eighth place all-time for the Missionary program.
Lee and Collier teamed with junior Ysbrand Nusse and sophomore Eric Molnar for a victory in the opening 200-yard medley relay. Their time, 1:41.69, was just a minute off the Whitman school record, which was set in 1992.
Collier and Molnar also teamed with freshmen Jamie Nusse and Chad Trexler to win the final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay, in 1:35.26. Whitworth's relay team was disqualified.
While Whitman was hard pressed for victories in the individual events, several Missionaries finished in the runner-up spot. Senior Ellen McCleery was second in the 200-yard freestyle, as was first-year swimmer Laura Flynn in the 50-yard freestyle. For the men, brothers Ysbrand Nusse (400 individual medley, 500 freestyle) and Jamie Nusse (100/200 freestyle) placed second in two events each. Also placing second were Molnar in the 100-yard backstroke and Lee in the 50-yard freestyle.
"We knew going into the meet that we were big underdogs against Whitworth, but we had a lot of good swims," Curles said. "We did a good job competing."
|
|
|
|
Samantha Kephart (200 freestyle, 100 butterfly) and Natalie Turner (1,650 freestyle, 100 freestyle) paced the powerhouse Whitworth women with victories in two events apiece. Brittany Gresset (50 freestyle), Yasi Kheshgi (400 individual medley) and Brenda Foster (100 breaststroke) also tallied wins for the Pirate women.
Foster also teamed with Marjorie Turner, Rachel Longton and Ashley Lecoq to win the 200-yard medley relay in 1:55.98, nipping Whitman's Alexander, Noone, Pettersen and Flynn by less than one second. Lecoq, Gresset, Turner and Kephart gave Whitworth a decisive win in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Michael Woodward (100/200 freestyle) and Quinton Darling (400 individual medley, 500 freestyle) were two-event winners for the Whitworth men. The Pirates also got wins from David Dolphay (1,650 freestyle), Justin Chandler (50 freestyle), Josh McDowell (100 butterfly) and Luke Stocker (100 backstroke).
Whitman stays at home Saturday to host the College of Idaho in a non-conference meet at 2 p.m. Whitworth heads across state for an NWC dual meet at 1 p.m. Saturday against Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma.
A year after dropping a dual meet decision at home to Lewis & Clark, the Whitman women's swim team evened the slate with a 112-92 victory over the Pioneers Saturday afternoon in Portland, Ore. The Whitman men were also winners, posting a 141-49 dual meet triumph over their Pioneer counterparts.
The Missionary women, upping their NWC dual meet record to 4-1, got off to a quick start, winning the opening 400-yard medley relay in a close race. Senior Elizabeth Roberson in 1,650-yard freestyle and sophomore Kendi Thomas in the 200-yard freestyle followed with indvidudal event victories, adding to Whitman's early lead in the team scoring.
Later in the meet, after seniors Erin Pettersen (200-yard butterfly) and Nancy Alexander (200-yard backstroke) added two more victories, first-year swimmer Claire Noone captured the final individual event, the 200-yard breaststroke, to seal the Missionary victory.
Lauren Flynn, another of Whitman's first-year swimmers, teamed with Alexander, Pettersen and Noone to win 400-yard medley relay in 4:15.17. A Lewis & Clark quartet was second in 4:15.60.
As they did in Friday's victory at Willamette, the Whitman women piled up a bunch of points in the 50-yard freestyle, even the race was won by Lewis & Clark's Koy Collier. Flynn was second and two of her teammates, first-year swimmer Kate Pringle and junior Courtney Fitzpatrick, were third and fourth, respectively.
The Whitman men dominated their dual meet, winning eight of nine individual events and both relays. The Missionaries are 3-2 in NWC dual meets this season.
Junior Ysbrand Nusse won two events for the second consecutive day. He and freshman teammate Matt Bangcaya finished one-two in the 50-yard freestyle, and Nusse's margin of victory in the 200-yard backstroke was nearly 20 seconds.
Three Whitman freshmen, led by Nick Wood, finished one-two-three in 200-yard breaststroke. Chad Trexler was second and Brian Wakefield third. Two more Missionary freshmen, Eliot Stone in the 500-yard freestyle, and Jamie Nusse in the 200-yard freestyle, added to the victory total.
Other Whitman winners were senior Clint Collier in the 200-yard individual medley, junior Max Hennings in the 1,650-yard freestyle and sophomore Eric Molnar in the 200-yard butterfly.
It was sophomore David Lee teaming with Ysbrand Nusse, Molnar and Collier to win the 400-yard medley relay. Lee, Molnar and Collier, joined by Jamie Nusse, notched the win in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
In winning the women's 1,650-yard freestyle in 18:52.90, Roberson cracked Whitman's all-time top 10 list for that event. She moves into ninth place.
Whitman returns home next weekend to host a pair of dual meets, starting with NWC rival Whitworth at 5 p.m. Friday. A non-conference meet is set for 2 p.m. against College of Idaho. Both meets take place in the Paul Harvey Pool in the Baker Ferguson Fitness Center.
Brothers Ysbrand and Jamie Nusse won two individual events apiece and shared in a relay event victory to power the Whitman men's swim team to a 153-52 thrashing of Willamette in a Friday night Northwest Conference dual meet in Salem, Ore. Whitman also captured the women's dual meet, winning 104-97.
The Whitman women, now 3-1 in the NWC dual meet season, won the opening 200-yard medley relay and five of the nine individual events. That was enough for the Missionaries to survive a disqualification of its top team in the concluding 200-yard freestyle relay.
The Whitman men, evening their dual meet record at 2-2, won seven of the nine individual events and both relays.
"It was a very good meet for us, especially considering where we are in the season," Whitman assistant coach Katharine Curles said. The Missionary teams flew into Portland earlier in the day on Friday, after having spent the previous week training in southern California. "We've spent a lot of time in the pool."
Jamie Nusse, a freshman, won the men's 200-yard freestyle as well as the 100-yard backstroke. "Jamie had outstanding swims, beating his nearest competitor by more than seven seconds in the 200 free and by three seconds in the 100 back," Curles said.
Older brother Ysbrand Nusse, a junior, posted victories in the 400-yard individual medley and 500-yard freestyle. The siblings also teamed with senior Clint Collier and sophomore David Lee for a decisive triumph in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Lee finished first in the 100-yard butterfly in 57.53, nipping Collier by four-tenths of a second. Freshmen Nick Wood in the 100-yard breaststroke and Nate Wells in the 1,000-yard freestyle also picked off wins for the Whitman men. Sophomore Eric Molnar and freshman Brian Wakefield placed second and fourth in the breaststroke event.
Sophomore Nick Hurlburt joined with Molnar and freshmen Chad Trexler and Matt Bangcaya to take first in the 200-yard medley relay.
Senior Erin Pettersen was one of five individual event winners for the Whitman women. Pettersen won the 100-yard butterfly in 1:00.88, missing her school record by six-tenths of a second.
Elizabeth Roberson, also a senior, edged first-year teammate Lauren Flynn in the 200-yard freestsyle. Roberson won the event in 2:09.00, out-touching Flynn by three one-hundredths of a second. "It was great to see the girls push each other," Curles said.
Flynn bounced back later in the meet for a first-place showing in the 100-yard freestyle. Sophomore Kendi Thomas was first for Whitman in the 400-yard individual medley, as was first-year swimmer Claire Noone in the 100-yard breaststroke. Noone's time was 1:13.63, which moves her into ninth place on Whitman's all-time list for that event.
Senior Ellen McCleery and sophomore Chelsea Klinger, along with Pettersen and Thomas, notched a thrilling win in the 200-yard medley relay. The foursome finished in 2:01.93, edging the Willamette relay team by four one-hundredths of a second.
Whitman failed to win either of the men's or women's 50-yard freestyle sprints, but the Missionaries finished second, third and fourth in both races. Collier was the runner-up in the men's event with Hurlburt taking third and Bangcaya fourth. First-year swimmer Kate Pringle was second and Klinger third in the women's 50. Junior Courtney Fitzpatrick, just back from a study abroad semester, filled the fourth spot.
The Whitman teams return to NWC dual meet action at 1 p.m. Saturday against Lewis & Clark in Portland.
The Whitman women's and men's swim teams both finished second in the team scoring as the annual Northwest Invitational completed its two-day run Saturday night at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.
The Missionary men's squad, in third place after the first day, rallied on Saturday to squeeze past Linfield into the second spot. Pacific Lutheran was first with 610 points, followed by Whitman with 579 and Linfield with 572. Rounding out the men's scoring were College of Idaho 328, Pacific 321, Lewis & Clark 252, Willamette 231, and Puget Sound 219.
Lewis & Clark finished with 810 points to take first in the women's scoring. Whitman was second with 594 points. Other scores were Linfield 351, Willamette 344, College of Idaho 338, Pacific 239, Puget Sound 211, and Mills College 193.
Senior Erin Pettersen and freshman Nick Wood led the Saturday charge for Whitman. Pettersen won the 100-yard butterfly in 1:01.25, less than a second off her school record time, while Wood was victorious in the 200-yard breaststroke. Beating the runner-up, freshman teammate Chad Trexler, by more than four seconds, Wood clocked a 2:21.56, which moves him into a tie for eighth place on Whitman's all-time "best times" list for that event.
Pettersen also teamed with senior Nancy Alexander and first-year swimmers Claire Noone and Lauren Flynn to win the 200-yard medley relay in 1:57.16, nipping their Lewis & Clark counterparts by a third of a second. Meanwhile, Wood teamed with senior Clint Collier, junior Ysbrand Nusse and sophomore Eric Molnar to finish a close second in the men's 200-yard medley.
Pettersen also placed a strong second in Saturday's finals of the 50-yard freestyle. Counting results from Friday, when she won the 200-yard butterfly, Pettersen scored a total of 57 points in the two-day meet, which left her in a three-way tie for second-place in the women's individual scoring. Lewis & Clark's Koy Collier took top honors with 60 points.
In addition to his Saturday breaststroke victory, Wood added a sixth-place showing in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:43.51. Counting his second-place finish in Friday's 100-yard breaststroke, Wood finished the meet with 50 points, good enough for a sixth-place tie. Linfield's Dominic Rieniets and Pacific Lutheran's Jay Jones shared the men's high-point award with 60 points apiece.
Noel Sollom-Brotherton, a junior, placed second and third in the finals of two Saturday events. Counting his third-place finish in Friday's 500-yard freestyle, he was eighth in the men's individual scoring with 59 points.
On Saturday, Sollom-Brotherton was second in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:48.54, which moves him into ninth place all-time at Whitman, while brothers Jamie Nusse and Ysbrand Nusse were third and fourth, respectively, with times of 1:48.95 and 1:50.45. Sollom-Brotherton added his third-place showing with a 55.95 effort in the 100-yard backstroke. Jamie Nusse took fifth in that event with sophomore George Stanton taking eighth.
Alexander swam a 1:03.06 to place second in the women's 100-yard backstroke. Added to her second- and third-place finishes in Friday finals, Alexander was seventh in the women's individual scoring with 50 points.
Noone took second in the women's 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:38.48. Meanwhile, senior Ellen McCleery won the consolation finals of that event, placing ninth overall in 2:47.42. Had she been swimming in the championship heat, McCleery would have placed seventh.
Sophomore Chelsea Klinger took third in 200-yard freestyle in 2:04.47. Sophomore Kendi Thomas was fifth in 2:05.15 and senior Elizabeth Roberson eighth in 2:08.65. Roberson also swam the grueling 1,650-yard freestyle, taking third in 19:38.62.
Molnar was third in the men's 400-yard individual medley in 4:27.91, while Collier was fifth in the men's 100-yard butterfly in 56.50. Ysbrand Nusse placed sixth in the 50-yard freestyle in 22.74, and freshman Matt Bangcaya won the consolation finals of the 50 free, placing ninth overall in 23.58.
Two Missionaries, freshman Eliot Stone and junior Max Hennings, were sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 1,650-yard freestyle with times of 20:32.20 and 21:00.07. Freshman Brian Wakefield was seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:32.28.
First-year swimmers Kate Pringle and Lauren Flynn also placed in the championship finals of their events. Pringle was sixth in the 50-yard freestyle in 27:00, and Flynn was eighth in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:08.22.
In Saturday night's final relay events, the 400-yard freestyle, both Whitman teams placed third. Flynn, Klinger, Thomas and Pettersen swam for the women, while it was Molnar, Sollom-Brotherton, Ysbrand Nusse and Jamie Nusse for the men.
Evening Finals - Complete Results
Whitman's Noel Sollom-Brotherton and Nick Wood emerged from Saturday morning's preliminaries with top times in their individual events as the Northwest Invitational continued at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.
In the women's preliminaries, Whitman's Nancy Alexander and Claire Noone posted the second-best times times in their events. The finals in all women's and men's events are set for this evening, starting at 5:30 p.m.
Sollom-Brotherton, a junior, led a strong Whitman effort in the men's 200-yard freestyle. He and freshman teammate Jamie Nusse clocked the morning's top two times at 1:49.81 and 1:50.84. Nusse's older brother, Ysbrand Nusse, was close behind at 1:52.00, the fourth-best time. Sollom-Brotherton's time moves him into 10th place on the Whitman all-time "best times" list for that event. Jamie Nusse already sits in eighth place on the list, having registered a 1:48.70 earlier this season.
Led by freshman Wood's top time of 2:23.31, Whitman also advanced three men into tonight's finals of the 200-yard breaststroke. Freshman Chad Trexler had the morning's third-best time (2:28.54) while Brian Wakefield, also a freshman, advanced in seventh place with a time of 2:34.67.
Alexander, a senior who holds the Whitman school record in the women's 100-yard backstroke, swam a 1:05.59 in the preliminaries and heads to the evening finals with the morning's second-best time. Noone, a first-year swimmer, registered the second-best preliminary time (2:39.85) in the women's 200-yard breaststroke. Ellen McCleery, a Whitman senior, nearly joined Noone in the championship finals of 200-yard breaststroke, but her 2:51.54 time in preliminaries left her ninth place.
Erin Pettersen, a senior, takes the morning's third-best times in two events into the evening finals. She swam a 1:02.71 in the 100-yard butterfly, more than two seconds off her school record, and a 26.81 in the 50-yard freestyle. Two first-year teammates will join Pettersen in the finals of both events. Kate Pringle had the morning's sixth-best time in the 50 free (27.34) and Lauren Flynn was eighth in the 100-yard butterfly preliminaries in 1:07.62.
In addition to his exploits in the 200-yard freestyle, Sollom-Brotherton paced another strong Whitman showing in the 100-yard backstroke. He was third in the preliminaries in 56.03. Jamie Nusse was sixth in 58.59 and sophomore George Stanton was eighth in 1:00.61.
Ysbrand Nusse had the morning's third-best time in the 50-yard freestyle. His 22.65 was just off his career-best 22.59 time, which has him ranked sixth all-time at Whitman.
Sophomore Kendi Thomas swam a 2:06.34 -- the morning's third-best time in the women's 200-yard freestyle -- to lead a trio of Missionaries into the championship finals of that event. Sophomore Chelsea Klinger advanced with the fourth-best time (2:06.81). Senior Elizabeth Roberson filled the eighth spot in 2:10.99.
Sophomore Eric Molnar heads to the finals of 400-yard individual medley in third place with a time of 4:31.37. Wood also advanced to the finals with the morning's fifth-best time (4:54.18).
Senior Clint Collier was the only Missionary to advance to the finals in 100-yard butterfly. His time (57.23) was the morning's fourth-best time.
Morning Preliminaries - Complete Results
Seniors Erin Pettersen and Clint Collier won individual events for the Whitman swim teams in the Friday evening finals of the Northwest Invitational at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.
Collier also was part of Whitman's winning effort in the 400-yard medley relay.
The Whitman women's squad finished day one in second place with 310 points, trailing only Lewis & Clark and its first-place total of 391 points. In a field of eight teams, Willamette and Linfield were a distant third and fourth with 192 and 187 points, respectively.
In the men's team scoring, Whitman heads to Saturday in third place with 272 points. Pacific Lutheran is on top with 310 points, just ahead of second-place Linfield's 304 points.
"We had a lot of great swims tonight," Whitman coach Jenn Blomme said. "A lot of our swimmers dropped their times."
The annual invitational concludes Saturday with morning preliminaries followed by evening finals.
Collier swam a 1:03.80 in winning the 100-yard breaststroke, nipping freshman teammate Nick Wood by three one-hundredths of a second. That time moves Wood from 10th to eighth on Whitman's "best times" list for that event. Collier already sits in second place on that list, based on a time he posted at the end of last season.
Nick Hurlburt, a Whitman sophomore, also swam in the Friday's championship final of the 100-yard breaststroke, placing eighth in 1:08.57. Freshman Chad Trexler won the consolation final, placing ninth overall in 1:08.55.
"The men's 100 breaststroke was definitely one of our highlights," Blomme said. "We had three guys in the top eight and then Chad won the consolations."
Pettersen, Whitman's school record holder in the 200-yard butterfly, was an easy winner in that event Friday night, finishing in 2:14.23, nearly six seconds in front of her nearest competitor. Pettersen also won the event at last year's Northwest Invitational. Two of her teammates, sophomore Jessie Neill and first-year swimmer Jeraldine Enriquez, placed fifth and sixth, respectively, with times of 2:40.33 and 2:41.54.
"Tonight's real excitement for Whitman was all about the relays," Blomme said.
Whitman's victory in the men's 400-yard medley relay was a close one. Collier, junior Noel Sollom-Brotherton, sophomore Eric Molnar and freshman Jamie Nusse took first in 3:42.40, beating their Pacific Lutheran counterparts by less than three-tenths of a second. "That was an awesome race for our guys," Blomme said. "It was the last event of the night and a great way for us to end the session."
Whitman nearly added a second victory in the men's 200-yard freestyle relay, which was the first event of the evening session. Junior Ysbrand Nusse, along with younger brother Jamie, teamed with Collier and Sollom-Brotherton to finish a second in 1:30.95. In the women's 200 free relay, Whitman finished a close second with Pettersen, sophomores Chelsea Klinger and Kendi Thomas, and first-year swimmer Lauren Flynn clocking a 1:46.76, missing the top spot by two-tenths of a second. "The sprint relay has been a challenge for us in the past, so it was great to both our men and women to start the evening session with such strong swims," Blomme said. "It really boosted our energy levels going into the individual events."
The Whitman women also made a fine showing in the 400-yard medley relay, where Pettersen, Flynn, senior Nancy Alexander and first-year swimmer Claire Noone took runner-up honors in 4:17.10, which was less than two seconds off the winning time.
Alexander, the two-time defending Northwest Conference champion in the 200-yard backstroke, came within two-tenths of a second of winning that event in Friday's finals. Her time, 2:14.87, was more than six seconds off her school record. Thomas also swam in 200-yard backstroke final, placing sixth in 2:20.14. That time moves her from 10th to eighth on Whitman's "best times" list for that event. "Nancy had a good race," Blomme said. "She just got out-touched at the end."
Alexander and senior Elizabeth Roberson finished third and fifth, respectively, in the finals of the 500-yard freestyle. Their times were 5:38.51 and 5:44.71.
Others placing third for Whitman were Klinger in the women's 200-yard individual medley (2:21.08) and Sollom-Brotherton in the men's 500-yard freestyle (5:00.02). That moves Sollom-Brotherton from 10th to eighth on Whitman's all-time list for that event. Thomas also swam in the finals of the women's 200 IM, placing sixth in 2:22.07.
Flynn gave Whitman a fourth-place showing in the women's 100-yard freestyle (57.96). Klinger was close behind in sixth place (58.55). Finishing fourth for the Missionary men were Jamie Nusse in the 100-yard freestyle (49.57) and Ysbrand Nusse in the 200-yard backstroke (2:04.26). Molnar was fifth in the 200 back (2:08.22).
Jamie Nusse's time in the 100 free moves him into ninth place all-time at Whitman.
Molnar also had a fifth-place finish in men's 200-yard individual medley, finishing in 2:05.53. Collier was seventh in 2:09.74.
Noone placed sixth in the women's 100-yard breaststroke in 1:16.35. Ellen McCleery, a senior, won the consolation final in 1:16.97.
Evening Finals - Complete Results
Whitman seniors Clint Collier and Erin Pettersen posted top times in two individual swim events as the annual Northwest Invitational got underway with Friday morning preliminaries at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.
The championship finals for each of today's individual events are set for the evening session, which gets underway at 5:30 p.m.
Pettersen, who won the 200-yard butterfly at last year's Northwest Invitational, dominated the Friday morning preliminaries in that event with a time of 2:14.74. That was nearly four seconds off her school record time, but she still beat her nearest competitor by almost nine seconds.
Collier, who was third in both breastroke events a year ago at the invitational, swam a 1:03.39 to set the pace in this morning's preliminaries at the 100-yard distance.
Two of Collier's teammates will also swim in tonight's championship finals of the 100-yard breaststroke. Freshman Nick Wood had the morning's third-best time, 1:04.65, which moves him into 10th place all-time at Whitman. Sophomore Nick Hurlburt had the morning's seventh-best time at 1:08.36, while freshman Chad Trexler was ninth in 1:09.03.
Pettersen will also have teammates in her championship final. Sophomore Jessie Neill (2:41.87) and first-year swimmer Jeraldine Enriquez (2:46.76) head to the finals with the fifth- and sixth-best times in the 200-yard butterfly.
Ysbrand Nusse, a Whitman junior, had the morning's second-best time (2:02.76) in the 200-yard backstroke. Sophomore teammate Eric Molnar takes the fifth-best time (2:06.82) into tonight's finals.
Seniors Elizabeth Roberson and Nancy Alexander were third and fourth, respectively, in the preliminaries of the 500-yard freestyle with times of 5:42.75 and 5:44.99. Junior Noel Sollom-Brotherton had the morning's fifth-best time (5:09.15) in the men's 500-yard freestyle.
Sophomore Chelsea Klinger and freshman Jamie Nusse posted the morning's fourth-best times in their events. Klinger swam the 200-yard individual medley in 2:22.43, which sends her to the final two spots in front of sophomore Kendi Thomas, who clocked a 2:25.18. Nusse's time in the men's 100-yard freestyle was 50.25.
Alexander, Whitman's record holder in the 200-yard backstroke, was fifth in the preliminaries with a time of 2:20.77, well off her record time. Thomas was sixth in 2:21.59, which moves her into 10th place all-time at Whitman.
Molnar had the morning's fifth-best time (2:05.96) in the men's 200-yard individual in 2:05.96. Collier heads to the finals in seventh place with a preliminary time of 2:09.31.
Lauren Flynn, a first-year swimmer, registered the morning fifth-best time (58.68) in the 100-yard freestyle. Klinger was sixth in 59.22
Claire Noone, another of Whitman's first-year swimmers, made the championship finals in the 100-yard breaststroke. Her 1:17.07 was seventh-best time in the preliminaries.
Junior Max Hennings just missed the championship finals in the 200-yard butterfly. He had the morning's ninth-best time.
Friday's morning session also included the finals of the 800-yard freestyle relays. Senior Ellen McCleery teamed with Roberson, Alexander and Thomas to power the Whitman women to a second-place finish. In the men's relay, Ysband and Jamie Nusse teamed with Sollom-Brotherton and Molnar to place third, just two seconds out of the second spot.
Seven Northwest Conference schools, along with the College of Idaho and California's Mills College, are competing in the two-day invitational.
Morning Preliminaries - Complete Results
Senior Elizabeth Roberson won a pair of distance freestyle events, but the Whitman women's swim team dropped a close 111-94 Northwest Conference dual meet decision to Pacific Lutheran Saturday afternoon in Tacoma, Wash.
In the men's dual, freshmen Jamie Nusse and Nick Wood notched individual event victories for Whitman, but the Missionaries fell 126-79 to their PLU counterparts.
"We expected a close battle, so the results for us were disappointing," Whitman coach Jenn Blomme said. "I think we have the potential to beat them, but it didn't happen today. They outswam us."
"Pacific Lutheran has added a few few fast swimmers with their men's and women's teams, and I have a lot of respect for the way their teams competed," Blomme said. "They swam a great meet."
At the same time, she added, "We weren't at our best today. We had a few people not in the water because of illness. A lot of the team has been sick this past week."
For the Whitman men, junior standout Noel Sollom-Brotherton and sophomore George Stanton missed the meet because of illness. On the women's side, senior Ellen McCleery was absent because of family matters.
The Missionary women got off to a strong start, winning the opening 400-yard medley relay in 4:18.40 as seniors Nancy Alexander and Erin Pettersen teamed with first-year competitors Claire Noone and Lauren Flynn. Roberson then captured the 1,000-yard freestyle in 11:32.71, winning by nearly 20 seconds. Senior Mara Abbott finished the event with a strong push at the end, slipping into third place in 11:56.07.
The Pacific Lutheran women responded by winning the next three individual events, and four of the next five, to seize control. Pettersen picked off the 200-yard butterfly for Whitman, winning by nearing nine seconds, and Roberson added a five-second victory in the 500-yard freestyle. Chelsea Klinger, a Missionary sophomore, overtook two PLU swimmers at the end of the 500 to place third in 5:49.38.
With Whitman's hopes for a team victory fading in the women's dual, Noone won the final individual event (200-yard breaststroke) in 2:36.23, a time that moves her into fifth place all-time at Whitman for that event. "That was a great race for Claire," Blomme said. "She was behind for the first half of the race. She finished strong and dropped more than four seconds off her time from two weeks ago."
Ahead in the team scoring with one relay event (400-yard freestyle) remaining, the PLU women added to their final victory total by placing first and third.
Missionary women who placed second in individual events were sophomore Kendi Thomas in the 200-yard freestyle, first-year swimmer Laura Flynn in the 100-yard freestyle, Alexander in the 200-yard backstroke, and Pettersen in the 50-yard freestyle.
In the men's meet, Nusse won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:50.34, a time that moves him into a tie for the 10th place all-time at Whitman. "That was a good victory for Jamie in a tight race," Blomme said.
Wood notched his victory in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:26.05, nipping a PLU swimmer by 12 one-hundredths of a second. Two Missionary sophomores, David Lee and Eric Molnar, finished second in two events each. Lee was second in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles, while Molnar was the runner-up in the 200-yard butterfly and 200-yard backstroke.
Others placing second for the Whitman men were senior Clint Collier in the 400-yard individual medley and freshman Chad Trexler in the 1,000-yard freestyle.
Saturday's action was Whitman's last dual meet of the semester. The Missionaries compete Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 in the Northwest Invitational, to be hosted by Linfield, and then break for the holidays.
The Whitman women's swim team notched its second victory in less than 24 hours while the men's squad scored its first triumph of the season as the Missionaries swept both sides of a Northwest Conference dual meet against Pacific Saturday afternoon in the Paul Harvey Pool.
The Missionary women, now 2-0 in the early dual meet season, rolled to a 154.5-40.5 victory over their Pacific counterparts. The Whitman men, improving to 1-1, won by a 132-51 margin. Both Pacific squads are 0-2 in dual meets to start the season.
"The most encouraging part of today's meet was seeing the races develop," Whitman swim coach Jenn Blomme said. "Whether it was for first or fifth place, our team did a great job of competing."
With sophomores David Lee and Eric Molnar winning two events each, the Whitman men's squad captured six of the nine individual events and both relays. Lee was first in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly. Molnar was a winner in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard backstroke. Other winners for the Missionary men were junior Noel Sollom-Brotherton in the 1,650-yard freestyle and freshman Nick Wood in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Pacific's Nathan Smith swam to victory in two events for the Boxers. He won the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races. Brandan Mantei added a third win for the Boxers in the 500-yard freestyle.
Meanwhile, the Whitman women were victories in all nine individual events and two relays. Winning two events apiece were seniors Elizabeth Roberson (100 free, 500 free) fand Nancy Alexander (200 IM, 100 back). Erin Pettersen, also a senior, was first in the 100-yard butterfly.
Other winners for the Missionary women were sophomores Chelsea Klinger (1,650 free) and Kendi Thomas (200 free) and first-year swimmers Lauren Flynn (50 free) and Claire Noone (100 breast).
Whitman's next dual meet action is Saturday, Nov. 17, at Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma, Wash. Pacific hosts Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound next Friday and Saturday in Forest Grove, Ore.
Whitman and Linfield kicked off their Northwest Conference dual swim meet season with a split decision Friday evening in the Paul Harvey Pool at Whitman's Baker Ferguson Fitness Center.
Whitman dominated the women's dual meet, winning seven of the nine individual events en route to a decisive 129-68 victory. In the men's dual, Whitman fielded its biggest roster in years and gave Linfield, the runner-up at last year's NWC championships, a little post-Halloween scare before falling by a 109.5-95.5 count.
"That was a great start to our dual meet season," Whitman coach Jenn Blomme said. "Our women won handily on depth, but we also showed a lot of talent. And what a way for our men to make a claim in this conference. For us to give Linfield a run for its money is a real testament to the growth and strength of our men's team."
Led by freshman Nick Wood and senior Clint Collier, Whitman swept the top four spots in the men's 200-yard breaststroke, cutting Linfield's lead in the team scoring to a single point, with just one relay event remaining. The Wildcats responded by finishing first and second in that final relay, the 400-yard freestyle, to run their final margin of victory to 14 points.
Erin Pettersen, a senior captain, won two events, the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly, to pace the Missionary women. Other Whitman event winners were seniors Elizabeth Roberson (1,000-yard freestyle) and Nancy Alexander (200-yard backstroke), sophomore Chelsea Klinger (400-yard individual medley), and first-year swimmers Lauren Flynn (100-yard freestyle) and Claire Noone (200-yard breaststroke).
Linfield's only individual victories in the women's dual came courtesy of Lauren Anderson in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. The Linfield women also won both relay races, although Whitman's top team in the 400-yard medley relay was disqualified after winning the event by almost six seconds.
"We obviously need to work on those relay starts for the women, but despite that, we were really pleased with how our two relay teams swam," Blomme said.
The Linfield men also won both relays, outscoring the Missionaries 28-6 in those two events. The Wildcats took first in five of the nine individual events, although Whitman compensated with greater scoring depth.
In Whitman's domination of the 200-yard breaststroke, Wood's winning time (2:25.36) nipped Collier by just two one-hundredths of a second. Freshman Chad Trexler was third and sophomore Eric Molnar fourth.
The Missionary men finished first and second in two other events. Junior Ysbrand Nusse topped Molnar in the 200-yard backstroke, and junior Noel Sollom-Brotherton beat freshman teammate Jamie Nusse in the 500-yard freestyle. Sollom-Brotherton's time (5:02.11) moved him into 10th place on Whitman's all-time "best times" list for that event.
Jamie Nusse added a Whitman victory in the 200-yard freestyle, winning in 1:48.76 and beating Linfield's Kevin Caple by one-half of a second. Nusse's time moved him into ninth place all-time at Whitman for that event.
Josh Parfitt had a big night for the Linfield men. He won both the 1,000-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly, and he teamed with Yusuke Kobayashi, Conor Moynihan and Dominic Rieniets to win the meet-concluding 400-yard freestyle relay by more than 20 seconds.
The Wildcatsalso got individual wins from Kobayashi in the 400-yard individual medley, Rieniets in the 50-yard freestyle, and Caple in the 100-yard freestyle. Those three swimmers joined with Tyler Huynh to win the opening 400-yard medley relay by more than two seconds.
"Kudos to a lot of our new swimmers, and to some of returning swimmers who competed in new events for them," Blomme said. "They all stepped up to the plate with a lot of confidence and did really well with their races. I couldn't be happier with the character of this group."
Whitman continues its dual meet season on Saturday, hosting Pacific at 1 p.m. Linfield is in Spokane Saturday to battle Whitworth.
The Whitman men's swim team placed second in one event and third in four others to finish in a third-place tie at Saturday's annual Northwest Conference Relay Meet, which Whitman hosted in the Paul Harvey Pool at the Baker Ferguson Fitness Center.
In the women's team scoring, Whitman placed third in two relays and finished in fourth place.
The meet also featured three "mixed" relays with schools entering teams of male and female swimmers. The Missionaries finished third in two events and fourth in the other to finish third in the final mixed scoring.
Whitworth won the men's team scoring with 70 points. Linfield was second with 52 points, followed by Whitman and Puget Sound with 46 points apiece. Next were Pacific with 24, Pacific Lutheran with 22 and Lewis & Clark with four.
Whitworth also was first in the women's team scoring with 70 points. Puget Sound was second with 58, followed by Lewis & Clark 48, Whitman 36, Pacific Lutheran 26, Pacific 12, and Linfield 10.
The mixed event scoring had Whitworth on top again with 42 points. Puget Sound had 30 points, Whitman 22, and Pacific Lutheran 20. Other scores were Lewis & Clark 8, Pacific 6, and Linfield 4.
Whitman's best showing came in the men's 300-yard breaststroke relay, where freshman Nick Wood, senior Clint Collier and sophomore Eric Molnar finished second in 3:19.12.
Whitman nearly notched a second-place finish in the mixed 200-yard medley, where Collier and junior Ysbrand Nusse teamed with seniors Nancy Alexander and Erin Pettersen to take third in 1:48.51, less than one second behind the runner-up team.
The Whitman swim teams put three men and three women in the top 20 as more than 200 swimmers gathered for the annual Northwest Conference Sprint Pentathlon Friday evening in the Paul Harvey Pool at Whitman's Baker Ferguson Fitness Center.
The pentathlon, a season-opening competition for most schools, ranked swimmers on their combined times for five events -- the 100-yard individual medley and 50-yard sprints in the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
Clint Collier, a senior and three-year team captain, had the best showing for Whitman, placing ninth with a combined time of 2:44.30. That was more than six seconds less than Collier's time at last year's pentathlon, when he placed 23rd.
Juniors Ysbrand Nusse and Noel Sollom-Brotherton finished finished 12th and 16th, respectively, with times of 2:44.93 and 2:45.71.
On the women's side, Missionary senior Erin Pettersen knocked nearly two seconds off her combined time from a year ago, placing 15th in 3:09.45. Sophomore Chelsea Klinger dropped nearly four seconds from last year, finishing 16th in 3:11.53. Lauren Flynn, a first-year swimmer, was 17th in 3:12.00.
Whitworth swimmers Brittany Gresset (2:56.93) and Natalie Turner (3:02.03) finished first and second in the women's standings. Michael Woodward, also swimming for Whitworth, was first in the men's scoring with a time of 2:35.83. Linfield's Kevin Caple was second in 2:38.68.
Two Whitman swimmers, Collier in the men's 50-yard breaststroke and Pettersen in the women's 50-yard butterfly, finished third to give the Missionaries their top placings within the individual events. Collier also placed 11th in the butterfly, 15th in the individual medley, 21st in the freestyle and 29th in the backstroke. In her other events, Pettersen was 15th in both the freestyle and backstroke, 16th in the individual medley and 38th in the breaststroke.
Nusse cracked the top 10 in two events, placing seventh in the freestyle and ninth in the individual medley. Sollom-Brotherton was a model of consistency, placing 11th in the backstroke, 14th in the individual medley, and 15th in both the breaststroke and freestyle.
Klinger made her best showings in the butterfly, placing 18th, and the individual medley, where she was 19th. She also placed no lower than 26th in her other three races. Flynn, meanwhile, was 14th in the freestyle and 17th in the butterfly.
Nancy Alexander, a senior and Whitman record holder in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events, finished fifth in Friday's 50-yard backstroke.
David Lee, a Whitman sophomore, finished 13th in the butterfly, 15th in the freestyle and 18th in the backstroke. Nick Hurlburt, also a sophomore, was 13th in the breaststroke. Eric Molnar, a third sophomore, was 16th in the backstroke and 17th in the individual medley.
Two Missionary freshmen also placed in the top 20 in individual events. Jamie Nusse was 14th in the freestyle while Nick Wood was 18th in the breaststroke.
Two first-year swimmers for the Missionary women also had top-20 placings. Claire Noone was 12th in the breaststroke, and Kate Pringle was 17th in the freestyle.
Pentathlon Individual Placings